Re:The RIAA doesn't care about public image (Score 1)

I hope for the same future as you--and it seems to be heading that way, interestingly, as far more people are seeking out independent music than ever. Anecdotal, but: when I was in high school, I said the words "independent music" and my peers would say "wtf". Now, my youngest brother, who is six years younger than me, is in high school, and it seems as though most of his friends listen to independent music, whether or not they're realizing it (at least, according to Myspace music lists). He's not in a niche, either; he's a popular kid, with a wide range of friends in a wide range of social groups.

However, the change you mention probably won't happen for some time. Again, anecdotal, but: I work at a locally owned computer repair place that services mainly home user Windows PCs. We service a few hundred computers a month. Business has its ups and downs, but the lines of computers awaiting repair are consistently pretty long. Most of them are botched Windows installs, and some of them have problems as a direct result of the Sony rootkit. However, only one of our customers has actually researched Sony's rootkit and attempted to contact them. She's a 40-something mother of two for whom the rootkit wrought havok, and when we worked on her computer, I noticed not only some bookmarked sites that involved the Sony rootkit, but also some sites that went into the RIAA's bullying tactics. This is one PC out of a few thousand in, say, the last year. Only one average-Joe computer owner is socially aware enough to read about the RIAA's crap in our area (suburban metro Atlanta). It seems as though most people are blissfully unaware of social issues like these, and they're perfectly happy buying thier Creed or New Found Glory or whatever. Despite buying trends away from the RIAA's companies, it's going to take awhile for people to "get it". And when they do, it's not going to be current consumers; it's going to be the consumers who are graduating high school right now, and probably even younger.

Despite buying trends, though, the RIAA is a massive organization with huge legal clout. They're going to prolong this as much as possible and make it hurt as long as possible. Hopefully we're seeing a behemoth in its death throes, as many predict, but I don't think it's that far yet. Maybe in a few years, but for now, it's just heating up, and all we can do is spread the word to help keep our fellow, uninformed consumers from taking the RIAA's baseball bat up the butt.